Pros and Cons: Inglourious Basterds
Well, ladies and gentlemen, here we have it: the first misspelled anti-(I think)-Nazi comedy? bloodbath of 2009 (though, of course, surely not the last). Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds stars the reliably excellent Brad Pitt, surrounded by a line-up of semi-unknowns and Cloris Leachman, going undercover in WWII France to defeat the Germans. Whether or not the Germans, as a political force, will actually be defeated seems dubious, though obviously many individual Germans are bound to eat it. From the trailer, it’s not exactly Valkyrie and it definitely isn’t Defiance; minus these kinds of inappropriate comparisons, what’s a wary critic to do?
There’s really only one right answer here: Make a pro/con list, as follows:
Reasons to See Inglourious Basterds
- Brad Pitt having a good time
- Brad Pitt doing his best impersonation of Jon Stewart doing his best impersonation of George W. Bush
- Brad Pitt saying “Nat-sies” a lot
- B.J. Novak doing…whatever it is he’s doing here
- Attempts at simulating a Coen brothers movie without involving the actual Coen brothers
Reasons To See Bambi Instead
- Exceeding amounts of gratuitous violence
- ANOTHER Nat-sie movie
- Attempts at simulating a Coen brothers movie without involving the actual Coen brothers
And the biggest con of all: “You haven’t seen war until you’ve seen it through the eyes of Quentin Tarantino.”
To which I say: There are so many myriad things in this world that I don’t need to see through Quentin Tarantino’s eyes, I don’t even know where to begin the list. Why start with World War II?
Case closed….maybe.
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds, Inglorious Bastards, Brad Pitt, BJ Novak, B.J. Novak, Coen brothers
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